The invention relates to a coupling head, to which an autonomous underwater vehicle can be coupled by means of a rendezvous head. The rendezvous head is fixed to the underwater vehicle or is part of the underwater vehicle. The coupling head is fixed, for example, to one end of a cable on the water side which is implemented as a recovery cable. Salvage cables are traditionally attached to a support vessel at their other end. This support vessel typically has a recovery winch arranged on it, from which the recovery cable is rolled off and onto which the recovery cable can be rolled up again.
The invention further relates to a coupling device which comprises the coupling head and a cable. The invention further relates to the rendezvous head for an autonomous underwater vehicle. In addition, the invention relates to a rendezvous device with this rendezvous head. In addition the invention relates to an underwater vehicle having the rendezvous head and/or having the rendezvous device. The invention further relates to a coupling system having both the coupling head and the rendezvous head. Furthermore, the invention relates to a coupling method for coupling together a coupling head with a rendezvous head and to a deployment method for an autonomous underwater vehicle with the coupling method.
An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) should be able to act autonomously in the water of a stretch of water, such as a sea or inland waterway, and therefore, while it is carrying out a mission in the water, typically has no cable connection to a support vessel. It is therefore difficult to recover after completion of the mission. Normally, after carrying out a mission the underwater vehicle is allowed to float up to the surface of the water. To recover it, the recovery cable with the hook is lowered into the area of the water surface and manually fastened, for example by the crew of a small boat launched from the support vessel for the purpose, to the underwater vehicle. Only then can the underwater vehicle be pulled up to the support vessel using the recovery winch and hoisted on board.
This known method for recovering an underwater vehicle is dangerous and also highly weather-dependent. In particular in heavy seas and under poor visibility conditions such as in fog, the recovery of an underwater vehicle by this known method is a dangerous maneuver both for the crew of the boat who fasten the recovery cable to the underwater vehicle, and for the underwater vehicle, which during this recovery maneuver could collide with this boat or even with the support vessel and thus be damaged.
Furthermore, it is known to discharge a line from the underwater vehicle, and to capture this line by means of a throw rope anchor, in order to recover the underwater vehicle by means of the captured line. Capturing the anchor line by means of the throw rope anchor however is strongly dependent on the skill of the crew throwing the anchor. In addition, the throw rope anchor can damage the underwater vehicle.
The recovery of the underwater vehicle by the methods described is also time-consuming. For one thing, it takes a certain amount of time to “capture” the underwater vehicle manually and by means of the cable and recovery winch to lift it into a resting position on the deck of the support vessel and launch it again by means of the recovery cable for a new mission. Secondly, on board the support vessel the underwater vehicle batteries must be regularly replaced or recharged. In addition, in the resting position measurement data from the previous mission, which are stored in the underwater vehicle, must be uploaded to the storage devices on the support vessel. Conversely, on board the support vessel the underwater vehicle is supplied with new mission data for the forthcoming mission. Overall therefore, a long time elapses between two missions, in which the underwater vehicle cannot be used for a mission.
The problem addressed by the invention is to improve the recovery and/or supply of an autonomous underwater vehicle.